id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
1u2ce3 | When will the Andromeda Galaxy be close enough to be visible to the naked eye? How big would it be in the night sky? | [
{
"answer": "Andromeda is visible to the naked eye now, in decent light conditions. It has an apparent magnitude of 3.4. It is more than six times the width of the moon in the sky, but the full diameter is not bright enough to be seen.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I do not know when it will ... | null |
ptrs1 | How did Newton derive the Law of Universal Gravitation? | [
{
"answer": "Observations demonstrated that the planets in our solar system orbited the Sun in ellipses. Newton discovered through his investigation (IE invention) of Calculus that a body undergoing acceleration proportional to the inverse square of their distance would travel in an ellipse. He then made a me... | null |
57rts5 | can the body repair a rupture of a spinal disk? | [
{
"answer": "So I ruptured the disk in my neck. The doctor explained it like this:\n\nThe disk is like a krispy Kreme doughnut. When it ruptures the jam inside spills out. It could split on the inside or on the outside. On the outside is not such a problem. However on the inside it can directly apply press... | null |
89finh | Have there ever been a situation where a booming city or town went "out of business"? | [
{
"answer": "This sort of thing is THE hallmark (not just A hallmark!) of the Intermountain West. Towns frequently burst into existence around the discovery of an ore body with precious metals. But precious metals being what they are, they are typically rare, and so while an ore body might seem promising, it wa... | null |
5mxjni | why does your body temperature increase when you're nauseous and or vomiting? | [
{
"answer": "Body temperature doesn't increase because you're nauseous or vomiting.\n\n It rises so it can kill the intruder, like bacteria. \n\nVomiting happens so the body can get rid of the bacteria. I assume the main reason for vomiting is that the body tries to get rid of the material that has the intruder... | null |
698f5i | why do kids and some adults jump up and down when excited or happy? | [
{
"answer": "Have you never done this? Never gotten so excited and filled with energy you just have to move? It's an energy release. We're also social animals and this is a way to express our excitement. \n\nPlus it's good for ventilation, moves the air around.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": nu... | null |
415cpk | Did the U.S. Government encourage people to move to the suburbs during the Cold War in order to avert catastrophic population losses from nuclear attacks? | [
{
"answer": "I've never found any evidence suggesting it did.\n\nKathleen Tobin has written [an article](_URL_0_) claiming that policymakers' fears of atomic attack was a significant factor in population dispersal. I find it to be an astonishing piece of rhetorical sleight-of-hand, using a few magazine article... | null |
ec8io3 | how are roads on steep cliffs built? | [
{
"answer": "Dynamite. I remember going on a hike somewhere in Utah and there was a trail that was originally going to be turned into a road but they just left it unfinished and made it a trail instead. You could see where they drilled the holes and were going to blow the cliffside. It takes a lot of precision ... | null |
16xr8c | Why is it so hard to distinguish between something that is cold versus something that is wet? | [
{
"answer": "Gonna take a shot here.\n\nAn object feels cold because we're feeling heat transfer away from our skin. This is dependent on both the temperature difference between our skin and the object, and the heat insulation/transmission properties of both. The faster heat transfers, the colder a contact fee... | null |
2u06kt | If I lived in the USSR during the purges, were there any choices or steps that I could take to guarantee my survival, and to what extent could this not require moral compromises like denouncing innocent neighbors? | [
{
"answer": "There wasn't anything that would guarantee survival, but there were things you could do to increase your chances. Even in the worst years, 1937-1939, the number of people who were \"repressed\" (contemporary term for those that were arrested and either deported, imprisoned, or executed) was between... | null |
8skrco | how does 50% sodium salt exist? | [
{
"answer": "Well since salt is 50% Sodium and 50% Chloride technically speaking all salt is 50% sodium.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "They displace sodium chloride with potassium chloride. It doesn’t taste exactly the same, which is why light salt tastes a bit strange.\n\nSource: _URL_0_",
... | null |
1gnc53 | If only one photon goes through a double-slit, is there an interference pattern on the other side? | [
{
"answer": "Yes. Have a look [here](_URL_0_) for more information. \n\nIt's not so much that the photon has multiple positions as that its position is not known accurately. This uncertainty in the position allows the photon's wavefunction to interfere with itself, because its probability distribution is spread... | null |
4d1w8x | Why can you rename, or change the path of, an open file in OS X but not Windows? | [
{
"answer": "The Windows filesystem identifies files by their paths (including the file names)—if you change a file’s path, applications and the operating system will perceive it as a new file with no connection to the original.\n\nThe OS X filesystem identifies files by an independent file ID, which remains fi... | null |
2ehyhn | Is it just complete coincidence that the outline of the moon fits nicely inside that of the sun during an eclipse? And if so, what an amazing coincidence it is... | [
{
"answer": "It's only a co-incidence for here and now. A billion years ago the moon was a lot closer (tides would have been a bitch). In a billion years it will be a lot farther away.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The fact that the Moon and Sun are very similar angular sizes in our sky is ... | null |
x4i66 | If someone died and had their brain preserved, could we map their entire neural network? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, but a dead brain may look very different than a live brain. \n\nCurrently, in vivo techniques (MRI, PET, CT, etc...) do not have the resolution required to do this. Serial block imaging along with automated taping lathe ultramicrotome and heavy duty custom neural imaging software can reconstru... | null |
odd4w | What percentage of lift is generated by the shape of an airplane wing and what percent is generated by the angle of attack? | [
{
"answer": "Well, depends what kind of wing it is, first of all. Secondly, speed, pressure altitude, temperature, etc. Tons of variables to consider here aside from the shape of the airfoil and the AoA.\n\n\nWould be a good question for [/r/AskEngineers](/r/AskEngineers) or [/r/aviation](/r/aviation).",
"p... | null |
1lnt5k | Is everything at least a tiny bit soluble in water? | [
{
"answer": "Enough energy isn't the problem, there's more than enough in a macroscopic amount of water, it's the probability of having enough energy in one spot (e.g. a single carbon atom) to cause the reaction you want (the carbon atom dissociating). The probability of that decreases exponentially with the (e... | null |
4ul7wc | How does physics address the situation in Zeno's arrow paradox? (This is not the same as the Achilles and tortoise paradox) | [
{
"answer": "Velocity cannot be determined by the position of the arrow at one given instant of time. So you can't say \"at an instant in time, the arrow is still and not moving\". You have no idea whether the arrow is moving or not moving. You need at least two positions to calculate its average velocity over ... | null |
3s6vio | how does preloading games on apps such as steam work? | [
{
"answer": "Two ways:\n\n1. The game files are encrypted, and the decryption key is given only when the game is released.\n\n2. Most of the game files are assets such as music, textures and models. The actual game executable is relatively small. Preloading downloads these assets but not the executable.",
"... | null |
6i9e1k | Are there any nuclear fusion processes that don't give off excess energy? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, many fusion reactions don't release energy, but *take* energy instead. Generally, fusion of two heavy nuclei will be endothermic.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "20766780",
"title": "Nuclear fusion–fission hybri... | null |
bxgaim | when you google a certain store or restaurant and it gives you a bar chart of peak times, where does the data come from? | [
{
"answer": "When you have Google Maps, you can turn on location tracking to help Google learn certain tasks. For example, it will learn where your home and work are, and what route you usually take to get there, so then it will send you a message when it's time for you to leave for work based on current traff... | null |
jvijf | Why do we get frustrated? | [
{
"answer": "Just because we do it, doesn't mean there is an evolutionary advantage or that it is even related to evolution.\n\n\n\nWe get frustrated because we are inherently selfish beings who want to succeed. Failure to succeed or proceed at a pace we like causes frustration.",
"provenance": null
},
... | null |
7qlr9j | why can we listen to music at a loud volume, but once it cuts to a commercial or someone talking, it sounds a lot louder? | [
{
"answer": "Unfortunately certain media volumes are not regulated - television shows themselves might be at a uniform volume, but there's nothing forcing advertisers to make their commercials quieter or the same volume as the show / radio / video / etc.\n\nIt could be used as a tool to hype up someone's memory... | null |
4xtleh | Can ohms law be applied to any circuit? | [
{
"answer": "No, Ohm's law is a special case. In general, the relationship between the voltage you apply across a given circuit element to the current that flows through it (or current density to electric field) is not linear.\n\nFor example, see diodes, transistors, operational amplifiers, etc.",
"provenan... | null |
1s8gmg | How long did it take for Poland's post-WWI borders to be established? | [
{
"answer": "The Versailles Treaty in 1919 assigned to Poland the territories of Poznan (Great Poland) and Gdansk Pomerania (is Germany and the West also known as Western Prussia or Danzig Corridor) and decided that Upper Silesia and southern part of the Eastern Prussia will be plebiscite territories.\n\nGreate... | null |
e9ec7i | Has there been a change in how academic history is written over the years? | [
{
"answer": "There have been overall shifts, but there is also a \"horizontal\" diversity in the approach taken by historians, based on different theoretical models. Today, almost any good academic history will contain a section discussing its methodology. Academic history essentially consists of writing _narra... | null |
couvu4 | What happened to Supersymmetry? | [
{
"answer": "A little background info first: in particle physics you begin with the so-called \"Standard Model\". It's kind of like the periodic table of the elements, cataloguing and grouping the known fundamental particles. It's not just a table though, it's also a mathematical model that predicts how all par... | null |
11fc51 | After the Big Bang, why does matter only exist in pockets of galaxies? Why is it not more 'homogeneous'? | [
{
"answer": "Gravity. If there's any initial fluctuation at all, everything condenses down to points and filaments under gravity.\n\nHere's a cool video of a calculation exploring how this happens. Dark matter's role in large-scale structure formation in the universe is a big topic in computational astrophysi... | null |
1o2m99 | Why did France (West Francia) end up more unified than the rest of the Holy Roman Empire (East Francia)? | [
{
"answer": "During what era? Because France wasn't particularly unified until Richelieu.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "By West Francia and East Francia I am assuming you mean the kingdoms controlled by Charlemagne's descendants? After Charlemagne's death his son, Louis the Pious (co-emperor... | null |
5sv01u | How are the wave functions of antiparticles related to those of their "normal" counterparts? | [
{
"answer": "When you're talking about particles and antiparticles, you're generally outside the regime of standard one-body, nonrelativistic quantum mechanics. So the notion of a wavefunction is sort of abandoned.\n\nInstead you replace them with field operators. There is a mathematical operator denoted by \"C... | null |
2j7lhy | why do we grow hair in specific places? | [
{
"answer": "Hair in armpits and groin is a dry lubricant, hair on your head is sun protection, men's facial hair is a sexual marker. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I actually had this question in my head, so I'll add on about something else which has been bothering me:\n\nWhy does the hair i... | null |
ah5zu9 | How did soldiers know the names of enemy weapons and equipment? | [
{
"answer": "u/kieslowskifan has an answer to this! \n\n_URL_0_ ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "7946",
"title": "Dog tag",
"section": "Section::::History.:American Civil War.\n",
"start_paragraph_id": 9,
... | null |
dtclmy | when you suck on an m & m, why does it feel smooth, then rough, then smooth again? | [
{
"answer": "The smooth part is likely the candy glaze, the rough would be the actual shell of the m & m and then the chocolate.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "42526",
"title": "Etching",
"section": "Section::::Faults.\n... | null |
2jsdk8 | During the Spanish Reconquista, did much of the Muslim population convert to Catholicism? | [
{
"answer": "Follow up question, during Muslim Iberia what per centage of the population stayed christian?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Different states treated the Muslims differently.\n\nCastile and it's possessions were known to be extremely aggressive towards Muslims and Jews. However, f... | null |
80x47m | how and why did apa become the standard for referencing sources? | [
{
"answer": "In research papers for publication, it's usually *not* standard (at least in most of the journals I am familiar with), partly due to the simple reason that in printed material *words cost money.* It's more common in review articles, perhaps because in primary research articles the other sources are... | null |
23khvf | is a 200hp car two times faster than a 100hp car? | [
{
"answer": "No, it just has twice as much health",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Most likely not. The horsepower is a rating of the power output of the engine, but the power consumption of a car doesn't usually scale linearly with speed. For example, aerodynamic drag is approximately proportio... | null |
4xkant | why do actors tend to put themselves as "executive producers" & "producers" after being in a television show for a while? | [
{
"answer": "This indicates they are not only acting in the show, but taking a stronger creative or production role *behind the scenes*. They are working on MAKING the show in addition to appearing on screen, but not every actor makes this change.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It may be just ... | null |
a1dbzg | Is there a historical consensus about the girls who started the accusations of the Salem Witch Trials? Were they put up to it by others? Were they psychopaths? Did they actually believe they were being afflicted by witchcraft? | [
{
"answer": "To add to what the others have said, those accusers who had suffered from the conflict with neighbouring Indians had had their lives upended. Those who were orphaned were now living with relatives or friends of their late parents, and those whose families had been displaced lost whatever livelihood... | null |
2qsztg | No Irish Need Apply - how badly were Irish discriminated against in 1840's - 1930's America? | [
{
"answer": "I am not a historian, but the Library of Congress has a good overview with source documents [here](_URL_0_).",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "As a follow up question, how about in the same period in Great Britain?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance... | null |
8mgbye | How Are The Chauvet Cave Drawings Still There? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, they are. It's amazing they are still preserved - there are likely countless of other drawings from the period that weren't.\n\nAccess to the drawings is very limited. Here's an account from 2015 by a reporter who was granted rare access: _URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer":... | null |
4it3h5 | the tingling sound in total silence | [
{
"answer": "It's your ears trying to make up for that lack of sound you're not hearing. Same thing goes for the tingling/numb feeling you get when your appendages fall asleep ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "One form of what you're talking about is tinnitus, ringing in the ears which can be a ... | null |
3plvye | why is the metric system so perfect in regards to water mass versus weight? | [
{
"answer": "It's originally designed this way. Units in the SI system are all defined by certain basic quantities, like a liter of water or one Kelvin, or one meter and so on.\n\nex: a kilocalorie (a calorie to all dieters) is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of one liter of water by one ... | null |
g63l6 | Are 98% of the atoms in the human body replaced every year? | [
{
"answer": "I looked around for an answer to this, but I couldn't find the original article cited, which was in Annual Report for Smithsonian Institution in 1953.\n\nThis article, I think, sums up the discussion of it though: \n\n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It seems to have some go... | null |
34qxqd | Why are White House meeting minutes recorded and kept? | [
{
"answer": "[Here is a paragraph from the University of Oregon Holden Leadership Center on record keeping during meetings:](_URL_0_)\n\n > As you can see, the role of a secretary is more than \"just taking minutes\". The secretary is in effect, the historian. What he/she records will be referred to by current ... | null |
2shcvj | Do LED lightbulb work in extreme cold temperatures? | [
{
"answer": "The operating temperature of the LED will depend on the design of the device, typically -40F is at or below the lower limit of silicon devices, (this will generally be shown on the device datasheet).\nLithonia Lighting OFLR 6 MO 's datasheet quotes its minimum ambient temp as -40C.",
"provenanc... | null |
2gzm63 | why didn’t the Ancient Egyptians conquer the rest of North Africa to the west of them? | [
{
"answer": "The Western/Libyan Desert is 1000 km north to south and 1000 km east to west and largely blocks access out of the Nile and Nile Delta.\n\nAs we saw in the WW 2 desert campaign, the Western Desert makes even mechanized and motorized maneuvering problematic.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"ans... | null |
2y5uju | how does keeping an avocado seed with the raw avocado 'meat' keep it from browning? | [
{
"answer": "[Here's a pretty good write-up of why Avocados turn brown](_URL_0_)\n\nIn short, it's the exposure to oxygen that makes the flesh turn brown. Keeping the stone (seed) with the meat does not prevent this in any way.\n\nFun fact about avocados: the trees release enzymes preventing ripening of the fru... | null |
dfmq7e | why are tiff files so large? | [
{
"answer": "1. TIFF (also known as TIF), file types ending in .tif\nTIFF stands for Tagged Image File Format. TIFF images create very large file sizes. TIFF images are uncompressed and thus contain a lot of detailed image data (which is why the files are so big) TIFFs are also extremely flexible in terms of co... | null |
ebnkco | how do we develop crushes on people? | [
{
"answer": "you see someone you find attractive and then you get a bone bone and decide that you want to make a hooman with them",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Lots of different reasons. Most influential factors include:\n- Proximity: You’re more likely to have a crush on someone who you have... | null |
29qo5i | why charities with similar goals don't merge to become more effective? | [
{
"answer": "That would require a lot of profit sharing for the lawyers and executives. Charities more proficient at throwing celebrity endorsed, wine and cheese events aren't going to share their spoils with the smaller outfits holding three legged races at a park.\n\nAbove all it's about paying the bills and ... | null |
22s0k5 | why are endorphins not used as the ultimate drug? | [
{
"answer": "They are. Heroin and opioid/opiate narcotics are basically just synthetic endorphins. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Endorphins can't cross the blood-brain barrier. Injecting or injesting them won't actually do anything, because they won't get to the receptors on which they exert... | null |
5birw9 | if pre-election polling is mostly done by phone interviews via landline, and the number of landlines is declining among most demographic groups, why are they still fairly accurate? | [
{
"answer": "It is not accurate that \"... poling is mostly done by phone interviews via landline\". Actual polling companies call cellphones and have non-phone ways of reaching people. \"Polls\" limited to landlines are badly disguised political activism.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I forg... | null |
6rgsbx | What makes meth labs so dangerous? | [
{
"answer": "because they're attempting to replicate processes that are normally carried out in a _URL_2_, but without the design of engineers, construction with appropriate materials or operation by trained experts. Instead they're copying instructions from the internet or passed down orally, using whatever i... | null |
19knsp | What is the affect of aging on sex cells in humans, and how is DNA preserved to pass on to offspring? | [
{
"answer": "The [germ cell line](_URL_2_) is separated from the rest of the developing organism early in development, and is kept in a state of minimal cell division and protection from metabolic damage. There is still degradation of the genetic material in [males](_URL_1_) and [females](_URL_0_), but it doesn... | null |
26hc0e | Can anyone identify the markings on this rock in my front yard? (Buffalo, NY) | [
{
"answer": "You'll probably get more help over at /r/whatisthisthing, the appropriate subreddit for these kinds of questions.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "10833767",
"title": "Hove Park",
"section": "Section::::Overvi... | null |
19x933 | how did the golden eye disk hold a full game and an emulator with 10 games only on 12mb? | [
{
"answer": "It is a game contained in a ROM and the emulator is what allows you to play access the ROM. There is not as much data as you think.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I'm pretty sure the music is synthesized. The music actually stored on the cartridge is basically just the musical no... | null |
2msxdo | how do the big torrent uploaders like yify, eztv, etc, not get caught? | [
{
"answer": "There can be many reasons:\n\n- hiding behind a VPN or TOR or another proxy, or all of those; remember that there still are countries where piracy is not regulated by law\n- initial seeding from a remote server\n- actually living in a country with no laws against piracy\n- all of the above\n\nI als... | null |
5kuu9h | what is the difference between "_url_1_" and "_url_0_"? i know that they are one and the same, but in general i want to understand how the domain name works. | [
{
"answer": "_URL_0_ is what is called a subdomain. _URL_1_ is called a subdirectory. Pretty much the same on the server side except that a subdirectory is within a domain's directory while a subdomain is outside a domain's directory, yet has its address response to the initial domain. The reason that those par... | null |
l1bnx | what exactly happened to gandalf after the snafu at moria? | [
{
"answer": "He slays the beast. He dies. While dead, he does things in the afterlife which he never talks about. He is reborn as the white, for I imagine his bravery, valor, and just doing the right thing.\n\nHe then gets taken away by the eagle, taken somewhere where he gives advice, and such, I believe it... | null |
8mktot | Did ancient Israel abolish or prohibit slaveowning in any way after the Exodus from Egypt? Was it socially frowned upon to own slaves? | [
{
"answer": "EDIT: Just to be clear, not a historian, but I’ve been reading this book for the past ten years, I think I know a little bit about it.\n\nThe Law actually says a lot about slaves and servants and how you were to treat them. How well they followed it or if they followed it all is questionable whethe... | null |
rtfag | Someone I met got me curious... in the early days of America, mineral surveyors would cross the country looking for metal deposits. How exactly did the bore into rocks and test things without modern equipment? | [
{
"answer": "A lot of it boils down to understanding the geology itself. If you can recognise evidence of (for example) a large igneous porphyry body you might take a good guess at there being workable amounts of copper mineralisation.\n\n\nAlternatively, simple techniques such as panning for heavy minerals in ... | null |
66feuh | cryptocurrency mining. what is the process and why is a gpu required? | [
{
"answer": "Currency has value in part because it is rare. If you can get however much of it you want, it becomes worthless. Imagine you can just print off $100 bills from home and they count as real dollars. Why, then, would I sell you, I dunno, a used book for $5? I can just print off $100, so why do I w... | null |
8u2m40 | if a 213g potato has .2g of fat, 4.3g of protein, and 37g of carbs, what is the other 171.5g? | [
{
"answer": "Net carbs? If yes, most of the rest is fiber",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Water, fibre, and other things that humans don't digest into energy.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "843005",
"title": "Ru... | null |
24pyyq | Gigantic Black Holes in galaxy centers keeps 'devouring' matter. Why doesn't that eventually result in whole galaxies being consumed and merging into single immense 'holes' with all galactic mass inside them? | [
{
"answer": "The planets don't fall into the Sun because they basically \"keep missing\" when they fall towards it, hence going around in elliptical orbits. Matter around a black hole is essentially the same. The gas and dust orbiting a black hole carries angular momentum with it that must be conserved and henc... | null |
41klye | Not quite connecting the whole Franks, Alemanni, Charlemagne, Holy Roman Empire, and France thing. | [
{
"answer": "Charlemagne, at his death, ruled an Empire encompassing modern day France (sans Brittany), the Pyrenees, Austria, Switzerland, the low countries, the northern half of Italy, and the majority of modern Germany. After his death, his son Louis I came to power, then died leaving his three sons to divid... | null |
6sdq4x | Can bees tell the difference between their own hive's honey and another hive's honey? | [
{
"answer": "Well they certainly know the difference between their hive and other hives, even if there are several of them adjacent to each other. \n\nHoneybees will also rob other hives of their honey if food is scarce. This is intentional; they are not mistakenly at the wrong hive, and the host hive will try ... | null |
4z2wxw | if you sweat salt does that mean your body needs more salt or it already had too much? | [
{
"answer": "One of those pesky \"electrolytes\" all these sports drink companies are trying to sell us on buying, salt (or sodium, if you prefer) is necessary for proper bodily function.\n\nSea water has a an average content of about 35 parts per thousand, so for every liter (1000ml) of seawater, you've got 35... | null |
1h1t5v | How does the body build tolerance to caffeine? | [
{
"answer": "By regulation of the number of receptors sensitive to caffeine on the cell membrane.\n\nCaffeine functions by inhibiting adenosine receptors in the brain, which we believe is involved in our biological clocks. After prolonged exposure to caffeine, the cell tries to return to homeostasis by *increas... | null |
6su659 | Why are there nuclear-powered subs and aircraft carriers but no nuclear-powered airplanes? | [
{
"answer": "This was experimented with a bit in the '50s by both the Americans and the Soviets. The main issue is that to protect the crew from radiation you need a lot of heavy shielding, and this makes it difficult to fly. \n\n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Power to weight ratios. N... | null |
kq793 | Physics problem that has been plaguing me since high school. | [
{
"answer": "The question at hand is: What causes the speed limit on the motion of the missiles? Is it air resistance (as is the case for airborne missiles)? \n\nIf so, then firing a missile (limited to 200 m/s velocity in air) from a jet (traveling at 500 m/s in air) will cause the missile to fly backward at... | null |
141c9n | what is the impact of palestine being promoted to "non-member observer status" in the un? | [
{
"answer": "It's not a full UN membership but it's a more symbolic move since it gives them more status than before. They are now on the same level as the Vatican and Switzerland (until a few years ago). \n\nIf they now try to join the international criminal court, this status of theirs will give them more '... | null |
1igbw4 | What were Pinkerton agents duties, roles, etc. in 1890-1912? | [
{
"answer": "Pinkertons were part of a huge private detective agency that was essentially the Black Water of the 19th century. One of the Pinkerton's specialties was strikebreaking. Employers would hire the company to provide thugs that would stop strikes in progress, and this is arguably what Pinkertons are ... | null |
3e0noc | How would one derive electricity from post-fusion plasma? | [
{
"answer": "Boil water.\n\nThat is how pretty much every power plant makes electricity. Its easy to make heat with nuclear or fossil fuels. You use the heat to boil water, which makes a lot of pressure, and you use the pressure to turn a turbine, which is geared to a generator.",
"provenance": null
},
... | null |
zf2wr | Why does adding more components to a transistor increase clock speed? | [
{
"answer": "First, they aren't referring to adding more components to a transistor, rather they are talking about increasing the number of transistors on a chip or the density of transistors on a chip.\n\nIncreased transistor count doesn't necessarily lead to a higher clock speed, but as we increase the number... | null |
j3e4d | why can't a state just print more banknotes to create more money? [li5] | [
{
"answer": "Think of a rare baseball card. If there's only 10 of them in existence, then everyone would want them and they would be willing to trade hundreds of chocolate bars for it. \nNow think if they printed 990 more of that rare baseball card. Now everyone has one, and no one is willing to trade a chocola... | null |
3mvqaq | what is the "sharing economy"? | [
{
"answer": "Instead of being full time taxi drivers anyone with a car and a license can hop on and be an uber driver.\n\nSimilarly, Airbnb allows individuals to host people in their homes as a hotel would.\n\nThe \"sharing\" idea is that personal assets (cars, homes, etc.) are utilized to provide services for ... | null |
3557k4 | is hemp realistically a great replacement for many materials (plastics and papers) or has this been over emphasized by those seeking legal marijuana? | [
{
"answer": "Hemp is a decent replacement for a broad range of things. You won't see paper companies switching from wood to hemp just because it's legalized. \n\nAlso hemp contains almost none of the active ingredients that recreational marijuana has (you can't get high off of it).",
"provenance": null
},... | null |
3k2yr9 | what's a military formation? | [
{
"answer": "Any set of soldiers marching under one command, usually in a regular form.\n\nAlready Egyptians did so that the they had the less experienced at the front, and the more experienced at the back, to prevent retreat and fill in gaps. The ancient Greeks invented the phalanx. The enemy can do more damag... | null |
5jbikq | Why was Dwight Eisenhower made Supreme Allied Commander during WWII despite the United States entering the war after other nations? | [
{
"answer": "I asked a similar question a few months ago that I think might get to the heart of what you're asking. Hopefully this helps? The response I got was fantastic! (all credit to u/goodmorningdave)\n\n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wiki... | null |
45efsd | AskScience AMA Series: We study neutrinos made on earth and in space, hoping to discover brand-new particles and learn more about the mysteries of dark matter, dark radiation, and the evolution of the universe. Ask us anything! | [
{
"answer": "How exactly do you detect neutrinos? I was under the impression that while known they are one of the most elusive particles. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "How exactly can neutrinos shed light on the nature of dark matter? Is there any hypothesis that scientists want to test rega... | null |
c84ty8 | what do people who speak different languages hear when someone speaks english? | [
{
"answer": "It sounds just like what you hear when you hear someone speak in a language you don’t know. You can tell they are saying something that means something because their voice is controlled and their body language will tell you they are not just making up sounds like a crazy person. When I hear America... | null |
2eu1oj | why do people donate to different cancers (breast, prostate, etc), won't one cure lead to cures for all the others? | [
{
"answer": "Cancer is actually a term that broadly describes a group of diseases, not just one, where there is uncontrollable cell growth that invades other parts of the body. What this means is that there are a number of different causes as to *why* the cells become cancerous, requiring different types of res... | null |
21gngu | Effects Of Shakespearean/Elizabethan Theater on the London Society? | [
{
"answer": "**Clothing**\n\nThe major theaters served as fashion runways, setting popular trends in clothing. Costumes were elaborate, expensive, and often borrowed from or donated by local tailors, cobblers, and jewelers. These clothiers could then advertise that they were producing the clothes being worn i... | null |
28f7b4 | why do they need so much money for cancer research? | [
{
"answer": "Scientific research costs money - hiring scientists, buying highly specialized equipment, buying the supplies, chemicals, etc... It can cost thousands of dollars to buy a milligram of a single antibody you need for your experiments.\n\nSuccess is also not guaranteed in research, so you can spend mi... | null |
2hmvoj | Unlike in Europe, where the tradition is still to build in brick and concrete, why does the US construct buildings using cheap building materials? | [
{
"answer": "What cheap building materials are you talking about in particular?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I'm assuming you are asking about why houses in tornado or hurricane zones are constructed out of wood. Hurricanes and tornadoes are extremely destructive and no building material can... | null |
5x3m2p | what is a car engine really doing when it is "warming up"? | [
{
"answer": " Well, first off you don't need to warm up the engine of a modern car. They are designed and built to such a fine tolerance you can simply turn them on and drive under normal operating conditions year round.\n\n As to what they are doing they are literally warming up, or getting hotter. Since the e... | null |
3d3ywm | how can i avoid mosquito bites? | [
{
"answer": "Source: I live in the south, and I have visited north east Arkansas which has more mosquitos than air at times. In Texas we have mosquitos that are so large they look like baby wasps. You can clearly see they have black and grey stripes on them. When you smack them on your arm it's a bloody mess. ... | null |
3mpskz | The German Schlieffen Plan was in development for years prior to the breakout of WWI... how well was the plan kept secret? Was the invasion of Belgium genuinely a surprise to the other European powers? | [
{
"answer": "Debates over whether or not the idea of a \"Schlieffen plan\" actually existing aside, the Plan itself was kept fairly secret, with wargaming of scenarios based on it being few in number, and knowledge of the actual plan being restricted to high ranking war ministry and General Staff members.\n\nTh... | null |
1a0fgj | Was WWI a true good guy vs bad guy war? | [
{
"answer": "Okay, no. No, no, no, no. No war is ever a \"good guy vs. bad guy\" sort of thing from a historical perspective, though individual nations by and large choose to cast the war they're fighting in that sense. You can bet World War II was seen by citizens of the Axis powers as a \"good vs. evil\" affa... | null |
5xjmhj | Would it be right to say that semiconductors are produced by doping? | [
{
"answer": "No, not all semiconductors are doped. There are also [intrinsic semiconductors](_URL_0_), where pure materials act as semiconductors. For example, a pure chunk of silicon is an important example of such an intrinsic semiconductor. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Doping is a necess... | null |
4isofh | what are the "loudness wars", why are they happening, and why should anyone care that music is getting louder? | [
{
"answer": "Music is getting compressed so it sounds louder. Before this you're set your volume to your preferred level and would hear everything from quiet notes to very loud and distinct drum hits. Now the quiet notes are louder, the mid range is louder, and consequently the formerly loud and distinct drum h... | null |
2dodx1 | How would a Christian church service have differed in Rome in 500, 1000, and 1500 CE? | [
{
"answer": "I can only give some descriptions on the changes throughout history. The essence basically remains the same throughout history: the mass of the catechumens and the eucharistic liturgy proper. Initially Mass was offered only on Sundays and feast days, but as more feast days were inserted, daily mass... | null |
28sb8s | why can hospitals charge $50 a pill for tylenol, but i can buy a whole bottle at the store for $5? | [
{
"answer": "My local hospital charged $25000 (to insurance) for the birth of my daughter, a three day affair. That's a lot, but my daughter was severely breached, and my wife needed an emergency c section. They'd both likely be dead if we didn't go to a hospital.\n\nSo if the choice is ludicrous prices or deat... | null |
1j0x0z | How long does it take for a nerve signal to travel from a blue whale's tail to it's brain? | [
{
"answer": "Assuming an optimally myelinated fibre, nerve impulse speeds in humans are circa. 100m/s. So if there were 1 fibre travelling the distance of the blue whale, about 0.3s. \n\nI don't know much about whale physiology, but I very much doubt there is a single axon travelling the whole whale. Instead it... | null |
1jp59x | why would someone want to jam gps receivers? | [
{
"answer": "The usual reason is people who are commercial drivers who want to do something they aren't allowed to do (take a detour to visit a relative, for example) but their commercial vehicle logs or transmits the vehicle's information to their boss. The vehicle usually gets its location, time, and current ... | null |
4adjfs | is there a fixed amount of money/assets in the world? | [
{
"answer": "no it wouldn't. because you can create money out of nothing. aka interest. the amount of money is always going up basically due to interest. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Money roughly approximates the total amount of wealth in the world.\n\nEvery time someone pulls a rock o... | null |
3tfjyc | how do processors work? how is a simple silicon chip able to perform calculations? | [
{
"answer": "This is a complicated topic built on very simple ideas. If you go step by step you should be able to wrap your head around it.\n\n**What is a semi-conductor?** Starting all the way down at the atomic level. In pure silicon crystals, the atoms are neatly arranged, and all have their outer electron s... | null |
2b229e | why do my teet hurt when i eat sugary candy (taffy, tootsie rolls...) | [
{
"answer": "Sounds like cavity creeps",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Almost certainly a cavity. Your saliva dissolves the sugar and the liquid sugar mix can get into the smallest of places, so it may only be a really really tiny cavity, but still something to get checked out.",
"provenanc... | null |
ainsgc | Intelligence documents from WWII and after from my Grandfather | [
{
"answer": "First and foremost it's amazing that they've been kept. Please do what you can to make sure they don't get damaged and do what you can to minimize the damage. Original documents are often a wonderful treasure trove to many historians. Often even mundane documents can lead to some critical insigh... | null |
1pi2xf | what does it mean when someone is "in shock"? | [
{
"answer": "The term \"shock\" is used very frequently in the medical world. It is when the organs within a person's body aren't getting enough oxygen. If a person is in shock for too long, the organs lacking oxygen will be permanently damaged, possibly leading to death.\n\nEdit: Just to be clear, I haven't ... | null |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.